Believing Your Own Bullshit

 In a World that's filled with bovine fecal matter, why add to the stench? It's easy to see how the feeble may follow the crooked paths set by the various social engineers who have baffled them with their bombardment of thinly veiled hypnotism, but what about those who have an Intelligence Quotient that hovers around or is above room temperature? While some of the latter group may have also been told throughout their lives that they can "do whatever they want or set themselves to do" by parents, teachers, gurus, etc., they may be at more of a disadvantage because that is inherently untrue for anyone of any caliber. I witnessed many individuals who were quite intelligent come and go quickly from my profession of twenty years and the ones that clung onto it as long as possible for the sake of their fragile ego were merely believing their own stinky-assed bullshit. They were only fooling themselves.

 Those who believe their own bullshit from a bicycle saddle are a varied lot. My favorite ones to observe are amateur racers. While many of these amateurs are most assuredly just simple folk testing their limits or merely having fun with friends, the bullshit believers are a mix of madness who bring bad tidings that can be hilarious and sad all at once to witness. Getting all chippy about booby-prize level winnings, amateur rankings, or egotistical aspiration is total bullshit to anyone paying attention. This notion is furthered by amateur sandbaggers, who are a whole other level of bullshit. The list goes on, if you get my drift. The impacts of those who are unrealistic about their abilities on a bicycle in the dirt are many, from environmental to social, their path of buttfunk permeates the trails they pollute.

The subset of those who ride mountain bikes and volunteer for trail work, are shown minimal skills in this vein and suddenly believe they know it all can negatively impact whole trail systems. While some of their work under the umbrella of legitimate trail advocacy (legitimate being key here) can be proper, their "off the books" misdeeds are often fine examples of poor execution and sanitization. Sadly, poor execution may also emit from less than competent crews set forth by groups claiming to be advocates who believe thier own bullshit. Happening upon a trail that has had brush work where the crew left the trimmings in the trail bed is a prime example of poor execution. This is especially true when an antisocial media post from the group about their seemingly Herculean "good deed" includes a photo of their trail tools for the task with a rake in it. WTF? The next thing to be expected from a bullshit group like that would be laying claim to work they did not do. It's how the deluded roll.

How does one avoid the pitfalls of believing their own bullshit? Since we're all wired at least a little differently, there is no "one size fits all" solution that the mass media sells incessantly in regards to *anything*. I've been fortunate in my life to gain professions that are considered by some as "quiet professional", a prime key in the cog the mainstream populace seems to either not know of, or often forgets. Many times over the years, the only moments I have thought something I had done in my professions was exemplary, was when an esteemed peer made mention of such. To me, it was just doing what I was being paid to do at the level I could accomplish. The same is true when throwing my leg over a top tube, though not as a profession (except for when guiding). When an esteemed peer, or those who may even be many levels beyond me makes mention of something they see as exemplary in my riding, it's not bullshit, but a confirmation that I had a proverbial "moment in the sun". They are thanked and things are left at that, with maybe an explanation as to what the fuck I just did to appease their curiousity when asked that. Face it, we're all just some dude/dudette on a bike and trying to hard to be something else is just plainly and simply Bullshit. Believe That

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate